Spirituality, Religion, and Mental Health
- Continuing Education
Engage with leading experts at a two-day continuing education conference that bridges spirituality, religion, and mental health care. Discover cutting-edge research, clinical skills, and cross-tradition insights that empower you to treat the whole person—mind, body, and spirit. Leave equipped with practical tools and cultural competence to integrate these dimensions into compassionate, evidence-based practice.
- Live Online
This course is taught online in real time.
Continuing Education
Earn up to:
13.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s) ™
13.25 ANCC contact hours
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Overview
Mental health care today increasingly requires clinicians to treat the whole person—not only mind and body, but also spirit. For many patients, spirituality and religion are central to identity, meaning-making, resilience, and recovery. Yet most clinicians receive little formal training in how to integrate these dimensions into practice.
This two-day continuing education conference brings together world-class leaders in psychiatry, psychology, chaplaincy, neuroscience, and public health to explore the intersection of spirituality, religion, and mental health. Through keynote lectures, clinical case discussions, and interactive panels, participants will:
- Understand the evidence base: Review the latest research on how spirituality and religion influence health outcomes, human flourishing, and psychiatric care.
- Gain practical skills: Learn how to conduct spiritual assessments, address moral injury, and incorporate mindfulness and meditation interventions into treatment.
- Explore new frontiers: Hear emerging insights on psychedelics and spirituality, neuroscience of mindfulness, and the role of faith traditions in healing.
- Engage across traditions: Join panels and discussions with diverse experts on clinical care in Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faith communities.
Clinicians who attend will leave with new tools, deeper cultural competence, and practical strategies to address the spiritual and religious dimensions of mental health in ethically sound, evidence-based ways. Whether you are a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, chaplain, nurse, or other health professional, this conference will equip you to meet your patients where they are—with greater skill, compassion, and impact.
Learning Objectives
- Explain how spirituality and religion function as determinants of health and public health, and describe their implications for psychiatric practice.
- Conduct a structured spiritual assessment in clinical settings using validated tools such as the RCOPE.
- Summarize current neuroscientific findings on mindfulness and evaluate their relevance for mental health care.
- Apply evidence-based approaches to addressing moral injury and integrating religious/spiritual factors in human flourishing.
- Compare and contrast interventions—including mindfulness, meditation, and psychedelics—that leverage spiritual dimensions in psychiatric treatment.
- Demonstrate cultural and interfaith competence by identifying strategies for integrating spirituality across diverse religious traditions in clinical care.
Developed and Offered By:
Continuing Education courses are developed by faculty from Harvard Medical School's teaching hospitals and accredited by Harvard Medical School. This course is offered by McLean Hospital.
Participant Types
Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Social Workers, Nurse Practitioners, and Chaplains
Schedule
All agenda sessions are in Eastern Time.
Thursday, March 5, 2026
WELCOME: Foundations of Spirituality and Religion in Mental Health
10:00-10:15 am
Spirituality/Religion as a Public Health Matter
10:15-11:00 am
S/R as a Determinant of Health
11:00 am-12:00 pm
Q&A Discussion
12:00-12:30 pm
Lunch Break
12:30-1:30 pm
Spiritual Assessment in Clinical Practice: RCOPE
1:30-2:15 pm
The Neuroscience of Mindfulness
2:15-3:00 pm
Break
3:00-3:15 pm
Arts Keynote: Gospel Music as Spiritual Care
3:15-3:30 pm
Religion and Spirituality in Human Flourishing
3:30-4:15 pm
Moral Injury in Religious and Spiritual Communities
4:15-5:00 pm
Break
5:00-5:15 pm
Q&A Discussion
5:15-5:45 pm
Closing Remarks
5:45-6:00 pm
Friday, March 6, 2026
Integration of Spirituality and Religion in Clinical Care; WELCOME: Learnings from the SPIRIT Intervention
10:00-10:30 am
The Awakened Brain
10:30-11:15 am
R/S in Psychiatric Care
11:15 am-12:00 pm
Q&A Discussion
12:00-12:30 pm
Lunch Break
12:30-1:30 pm
Title TBA
1:30-2:15 pm
Mindfulness and Meditation Interventions
2:15-3:00 pm
Q&A Discussion
3:00-3:30 pm
Clinical Care Across Traditions Panel Discussion
3:30-4:15 pm
Psychedelics, Spirituality, and Clinical Care
4:15-5:00 pm
Break
5:00-5:15 pm
Q&A Discussion
5:15-5:45 pm
Closing Remarks
5:45-6:00 pm
Faculty
Harvard Medical School Continuing Education attracts the best and brightest faculty from all around the world. As a student in this course, you’ll have access to outstanding course directors and faculty.
Course Directors
Christopher Palmer
MD | Course Director
- Founder and Director, Metabolic and Mental Health Program, McLean Hospital
- Director, Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education, McLean Hospital
- Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Stephanie Collier
MD, MPH | Course Director
- Director of Education, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry
- Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
- Associate Director, Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education, McLean Hospital
David H. Rosmarin
Course Director
- Director, Spirituality and Mental Health Program
- Associate Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Rania Awaad, MD
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School or Medicine
Tracy Balboni, MD, MPH
Professor of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School
Teddy Hickman-Maynard, MDiv, PhD
Associate Dean for Ministry Studies Lecturer on Ministry, Harvard Divinity School
Caroline Kaufman, PhD
Instructor in Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Post-Doctoral Fellow, Spirituality and Mental Health Program at McLean Hospital
Franklin King, MD
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Director of Training and Education, Center for Neuroscience of Psychedelics, Massachusetts General Hospital
Harold Koenig, MD
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Associate Professor of Medicine, Senior Fellow in the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at Duke University
Howard Koh, MD, MPH
Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Lisa Miller, PhD
Professor of Psychology and Education, Columbia University Teachers College and Founder of the Spirituality, Mind, Body Institute
Kenneth Pargament, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Bowling Green State University
John Peteet, MD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Susan Pollack, MTS, EdD
Co-founder, Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School
Matthew Sacchet, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Director, Meditation Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital
Tyler VanderWeele, PhD
Director of The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard; John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology in Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Gloria White-Hammond, MDiv, PhD
Co-Pastor of Bethel AME Church and Swartz Resident Practitioner in Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School
Jennifer Wortham, Dr. PH
Research Associate, Human Flourishing Program at Harvard
Agnelika Zollfrank, MDiv, BCC
Chaplain, McLean Hospital
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Course Fees
Fee Disclaimer
You may register through our secure online environment and will receive an email confirmation upon receipt of your payment. Prices include CME credit, electronic syllabus. At the end of the registration process, a $10 non-refundable processing fee will be added to your registration.
| Role | Course Fee |
|---|---|
| Physician (MD/DO) | $575.00 |
| Nurse (RN/APRN) | $395.00 |
| PA | $395.00 |
| Psychologist | $575.00 |
| Resident/Fellow | $395.00 |
| Social Worker | $395.00 |
| Allied Health Professional / Other | $395.00 |
Accreditation
The Harvard Medical School designates this for a maximum of 13.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Harvard Medical School designates this live activity for a maximum of 13.25 ANCC contact hours.
The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) states that 13.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ are acceptable for continuing medical education requirements for recertification. We would also suggest that learners check with their state licensing board to ensure they accept reciprocity with 13.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for re-licensure.
McLean Hospital is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. McLean Hospital maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Participants meeting requirements will receive 13.25 CE credits. Psychologist must attend 100% of the conference in order to receive APA credit.
McLean Hospital has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP™ No. 6085. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. McLean Hospital is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. This offering meets the requirements for up to 13.25 NBCC hours.
The American Medical Association (AMA) has an agreement of mutual recognition of continuing medical education (CME) credit with the European Union of Medical Specialties (UEMS). Additional information regarding this agreement may be found on the European Union of Medical Specialties website.
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada recognizes conferences and workshops held outside of Canada that are developed by a university, academy, hospital, specialty society or college as accredited group learning activities.
For information about continuing education credit for social workers, please call email education@mclean.harvard.edu